Sam Raimi Made Sure Evil Dead 4 Wouldn't Be Affected By The Remake

Not only is the upcoming remake from director Fede Alvarez a gory, disgusting blast (read my full review from last night’s SXSW world premiere right here), but just last week Sam Raimi told an audience in London that he and his brother Ivan will be working on a script for Evil Dead 4 this summer. When this news came out, however, many, including myself immediately thought of one question: how can we have both a remake – which already has a part two in the works - and a new sequel to the original trilogy? This answer is actually quite simple: Raimi thought ahead.

Earlier this afternoon I had the pleasure of chatting with Ash J. Williams himself, Bruce Campbell – who serves as a producer on the remake - and took the opportunity to ask him about the potential future of both branches of the legendary horror franchise. When I first brought up the subject of Evil Dead 4 he dismissed Raimi’s comments as just talk – flapping his hand like a mouth and saying, “Where’s the script? Show me the script, Sam!” – but then he revealed that the director guided the latest movie with a potential Army of Darkness follow-up in mind.

“They co-exist beautifully!” Campbell said when I asked how both the remake and a new sequel could happen at the same time. “Sam instructed us, ‘Don’t screw up my ability to make another movie with Ash.’ So there’s no Ash character, there’s no Bruce, there’s no cameo.”

Is it possible that within the next few years we will have two separate Evil Dead franchises running at the same time? Could they eventually cross-over and have Ash fighting the deadites along with the new class? Let’s cross our fingers and hope so.